Huntington Lake (aka The Fuel Pump Saga)

Because we had some time off for Labor Day, we decided to take advantage of it and go on a little camping trip up in the Sierra Nevadas. We looked at maps for weeks and finally settled on Huntington Lake -- about 70 miles due east of Fresno and about 50 miles from Yosemite (as the crow flies).

We set off on our trek on Friday morning in the Excursion with our quads and mountain bikes towing on the trailer behind. By the time we got to our campground and set camp (after a few stops in Fresno), it was 5:00 in the evening. We went on a pleasant little ride around the lake on our bikes and then settled down for the evening.

On Saturday we got up and went on a quad ride up in the higher parts of the mountains for the better part of the day. Aside from some annoyances because the state of California doesn't really allow you to ride on many of the perfectly good quad roads, and I'm a bit of a wuss so the more challenging trails weren't really an option, it was a beautiful ride.

On Sunday we went in search of showers in the morning (and, luckily were successful 20 miles down the road at Shaver Lake), attended the Auberry Ward sacrament meeting (terribly friendly group) at the base of the mountains and then came back via Shaver Lake where we had a picnic and watched all the crazy people who had come out for Labor Day weekend. We took the scenic route back to camp, stopping by some geocaches and then took a little hike up to Rancheria Falls. Beautiful. Here are some pics from the first half of the trip:




Monday morning was COLD.. but we started out early and loaded the Mountain Bikes into the back of the Excursion, planning to drive up over Kaiser Pass to check out the scenery and hopefully find some trails to ride. When we started the car that morning we immediately knew that something wasn't right. We started down the road anyway, but as soon as we turned to go up the mountain, we both felt like we should turn around and head back to the little 'village' and check out the car. We parked across from the 'general' store and decided to first change the fuel filter to see if that was what was causing us grief (we just happened to have a spare). We got that done, started the car and pulled right in front of the store. Chad was idling while I went in to buy some wet wipes to rid our hands of the smell of diesel when the car just died. And then refused to start.

We tried starting it over and over and over again. Nothing. You could tell that no fuel was getting to the engine, but we had no idea why. After several minutes (possibly hours) and help from several of the locals who were hanging out at the bar next to the general store, we finally determined that the fuel pump was not turning on. We had no idea if it was an electrical problem or if something was stuck in it, or if it was dead. We found a listing for the local Napa dealer (20 miles down the road at Shaver Lake), and called to see if he happened to have a pump in stock. He said no.. but he could have someone bring it from the distribution center.. $290... ouch.

But.. since we didn't even know if it really was the pump, we decided to hike back to camp (1.5 miles up the road), get some tools and return to do more troubleshooting. Sure enough, Chad removed the pump and put voltage straight to it from the battery (thanks to some wire we bought at the store), and it was dead. Not even a spark.

One of the terribly helpful locals, Niles, had been listening to our troubles earlier and had spent the afternoon locating a small fuel pump he had 'in the back'. He broght it out and we figured.. why not try it? Even if it just gets us off the mountain and into town where we can buy a new fuel pump (for less than $300). We insalled it (with the help of some random fittings and clamps from the general store) and it worked like a champ -- it just wasn't big enough to actually push the fuel into that big diesel motor. So.. here it was.. 5:00.. all the parts stores were closed.. we knew we had a 'bad' pump but couldn't do anything about it. So.. we hiked back to camp, made dinner and ate smores and tried to figure out what to do next.

Tuesday morning, we called the Napa guy in Shaver.. yes he could get us the part.. but it was an extra $50 to get it that day and he could only go as far as Shaver. We had talked to the local boat mechanic, Mike, the night previous and he said he'd run and get the part for us for $20. We called AAA and they said we only had 7 free miles of towing and it would be an additional $7/mile after that, which didn't help much. So.. we ordered the now $340 part and packed up to hike back to the car.

Mike agreed to pick it up and Glen (the guy in Shaver Lake) promised it there by noon. Mike said he'd deliver it to our car around 1:00. It was 10:30 at the time.. so we had some time to kill. We hiked down to the lake and just hung out in a small meadow/beach area. It was definitely a beautiful day.. and all the tourists had left on Monday, so it was nice and peaceful. We hung out there until about 12:30 when we went back to the car to prepare it for the new part.

We took out the little pump that Niles had given us and then were just waiting around for the new part with nothing better to do. So.. we started messing with the broken pump just to see if we could figure out what was wrong with it. We banged it around a bit, etc. Nothing too specific. Then decided to put the wires to it again just to see. The thing sprang to life, shot out a bunch of diesel and seemed to be running fine.

So.. we put it back on. Yep.. the same 'ol part that had come off of it. Installed it.. the car started right back up and after a few minutes of driving around the block.. seemed good as new. We waited for our over-priced and now possibly unnecessary part.. and then headed back to camp:



Having had enough drama for a while and not wanting to chance getting stuck anywhere, we hung out in camp for the rest of the afternoon and took a nice walk down by the lake:



We packed up and drove home the next day without a hitch. We were tired and dirty, but we made it, which we were grateful for. It was not the best experience, but it was definitely another sign that Heavenly Father is taking care of us. We could have broken down way back in where we would have had to hike out just to flag someone down to get back to camp. We could have broken down on Tuesday when there was no one around and no store open to help us out. We could have broken down on the way back home and had to change that pump on the side of the highway. But we didn't, and thanks to Niles, Dave, Glen and all the other nice folks up in Huntington Lake, we were able to get back home in one piece!

Besides.. at least it was in a nice, cool, beautiful place. :-)

P.S. We were driving yesterday around here when the thing started going again. So.. last night we changed it out for the lovely overpriced one that we couldn't return anywhere. We truly were blessed that it even lasted as long as it did..